Banished
by Outlaw Gene
Summary: He awoke on a boat with nothing but the clothes on his back. Forsaken from his home, now he must find out who did this to him and why. As soon as he can afford the trip that is.
1. Banished

Banished

His head was throbbing. It felt like his whole world was shaking and spinning all around him. He made to open his eyes but the even the dim lights of where ever this was, were enough to make his throbbing hurt that much worse. He could hear creaking noises and his sense of smell was assaulted by the ever potent smell of salt. This left our blonde cast away with a sudden realization: He was on boat at sea.

Naruto moved his hand to rub his forehead, it was only then that he realized that his hitai-ate was missing. This caused him to immediately sit straight up. Not the best of ideas considering this caused an even more painful throb to burst through his head sending right back down to the ground "You shouldn't act so hyper, you know?"

Said a voice coming from his left. Naruto slowly turned his head and forced his eyes open just a tiny bit to see where the voice came from. He saw a young teen girl, probably about his age carrying a bucket of water and a loaf of bread. From what he could see through his squinted eyes told him she had either dark brown or black hair, but surprisingly vibrantly blue eyes. She was wearing what looked like a dark brown tunic about two sizes too big for her. The length of it fell to her mid calf, almost like a dress "You look like hell. I got something from the galley for you. It's not much, but beggars can't be choosers, right?"

Naruto rolled all the way over to his side "Where is my hitai-ate?"

He asked in the loudest voice he could muster, which was not much louder than a normal speaking voice. Well, normal volume for a normal person. It was still rather quiet by Naruto standards.

The girl looked at him a bit confused for a moment until a look of recognition snapped over her face "Oh, you mean this thing." She said as she pulled out his hitai-ate out of seemingly nowhere "This is one of those things that ninja wear, right?"

Naruto lightly nodded his head "That's right! It's mine! Give it back!"

Again, Naruto said this in the loudest voice he could muster and once again trying to sit up, though much more slowly this time. The girl, however, shook her head at him "No can do. Listen, ninja may be accepted in the Continent of Elements, but the place we're headed to his much less accepting. They catch you with this and they'll break out the militia to catch and kill you."

The look on Narutos' face was one of both shock and confusion. What did she mean by 'the place we're headed to'?! And what about this business with ninjas!? This was all happening to fast for him to even grab hold of the idea. Couple that with his still throbbing head and all this information served to do was upset him. The girl kneeled down next to him "Hey, I told you to stay calm! Those guys who dumped you down here weren't exactly gentle with you. They said you'd been out for two days before that, so you're gonna wanna take this slowly."

Hearing that made sense to Naruto. All his muscles were tight and ached real bad and his vision was still slightly blurred. But this didn't make any sense. The last memory he had was heading back to his apartment after a superb dinner courtesy of Ichiraku ramen. He was standing outside his door still fumbling with his keys so he could let himself in and then….

Damn it! It all kinda goes black after of that.

What the hell had happened after that? His mind was bouncing all over the place now and he had no idea what he should do next. Which he then verbalized to this strange girl with him "Who the hell brought me here?! Where the hell am I?! Who are you?! What did you mean-"

He was cut short when the girl slapped both her hands over his mouth with a rather frustrated look on her face "Geez, are you always this annoying?" The girl let out an obviously irritated sigh "First off, I don't' know who it was that brought you here. All I know is that they were three guys with these goofy looking white masks."

White masks? Were they ANBU?

"Next, you're on a trade ship heading for the western continent where, like I said, they don't like ninja, so I wouldn't go around broadcasting that you are, or were, one."

The west? It was times like these that made Naruto wish he had actually paid attention when they had covered geography in the academy. He didn't even know of any other continents beyond the elemental lands.

"And as for who I am, my name is Terra. I'm from the place were headed to. The guys who left you gave the captain just enough money for him to agree to take you one way, so once we hit land fall your gonna have to figure out the rest on your own."

He was dumped on foreign ship headed home. He had no memory of how he got there. He had apparently been left by the ANBU. He had been stripped of all his gear, leaving him with nothing more than the clothes on his back. As he patted himself down he felt something in his right pant pocket. He reached in and pulled out a single piece of neatly folded paper. On the outside the words 'read me' were written. Naruto carefully unfolded the piece of paper and began to read.

_Dear Uzumaki-san,_

_I leave the message to you only as a courtesy. This a notice that your service to Konohagakure, Hi no Kuni and the Continent of Elements is no longer needed or accepted as of this date. When you find this you will already be far, far away from your home land. If you should return, be aware that this will result in your name being added to bingo books all across the lands. The only reason you still live is because of your valorous service in the past. Do not mistake this as a show of weakness or even mercy. If you return I will see to it personally you are hunted down and exterminated like a rabid animal._

_I sincerely hope that you take this threat seriously and simply allow yourself to forget all about this place and I wish nothing but the best for you in your new life._

_A friend._

Naruto felt as if the whole world had just stopped. All noises, smells, even movements of the ship seem to stop for the briefest of moments. It was only now that Naruto realized what it was that happened to him. He had only heard it mentioned in the academy once, but now it came screaming back to him like some kind of nightmare. It all came back in one word: Banished.

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~Contrary to popular belief a ninja who gets banished is not privy to the same treatment as, let's say, a samurai, or a merchant, or even a civilian. These people pulled before an audience of their peers, the order is read aloud for all to hear and then they are lead down the "Walk of Shame" through the main street of the village leading all the way to the gate where they are then left to carry on all alone.

It's a bit different for ninja.

When a ninja gets banished there is one of two different ways in which this happens. The most common is when said ninja is on a mission. Usually when the ninja is returning from his objective and is headed back home. He is usually intercepted by a three man cell, typically consisting of either ANBU or exceptional Jonin. The ninja in question is in formed of their position and is told that if that take another step toward their village they will be attacked.

The second kind is in fact very rare, usually only used when the removal of this ninja is considered a high priority. The target is ambushed, usually in their own home or some other familiar place, somewhere where the target is more likely to let down their guard. Once they are unconscious they are then stripped of all the gear and money they have on them. They are then transported, again usually by ANBU or elite Jonin, as far away from the village as they can get them in about a three day period, during which the target it either drugged or placed under a powerful genjutsu to make sure they don't resist, or try to figure out where it is they are being taken. The target is usually left in a hotel or some other temporary housing until they wake up and can carry on. In this case, a note is left for the target so they are aware of their situation and from then on they become walking targets.

In the case of ninjas with any reputation, banishment is not just the loss of a home; it is the loss of protection as well. Ninja that are banished can't just retreat to another village for protection like one would think. First off, for a foreign village to take in a ninja that had been banished from another village can be viewed as a declaration of war or at the very least can cause severe strain between the two villages. Add that to the fact that this punishment is usually only dealt out to ninja the leaders of their village deem 'Valorous', this usually means the banished ninja has built up a rather large number of enemies in their career.

Even the most powerful ninja rarely live more than 2 to 3 years after being banished. Some consider it a worse fate then death and it is considered the ultimate shame of a ninja. To be banished from ones village makes you a walking target with no hope for a future. ~

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Naruto picked at the obviously stale bread set before him. He had been quiet for what felt like hours at this point. He was still trying to wrap his head around the idea of what had just happened to him. It seemed like only yesterday he was a proud ninja of his village with a bright future and a real chance to see all his dreams come true. Now he was a marked man heading toward a land that may as well be on another planet for as well as he knew it. That girl, Terra, was still sitting next him. She hadn't said a word in all this time either; though it was obvious the awkward silence was starting to get to her. She kept it up until she just couldn't stand it anymore "Are you gonna stop moping or what? Seriously, all this silence is gonna drive me nuts. If you don't say something soon I'm gonna go back above deck even though all those clods do is stare at me chest and grab my ass, you hear me?!"

"Shut up."

His voice was almost too quiet to hear of the sounds of the sea, but Terra could still make it out. Her face became flush with anger and then broke into a wicked looking smirk "Oh, so you can still talk, eh?" she said with a strange accent in her voice ringing through "Here I thought that damn letter had turned you into a mute there for a second. Gotta admit it was kinda nice not having you yell, but now it's just creepy, so knock it off."

Naruto turned his blood shot eyes toward her. He had obviously been crying but neither of them could remember when he had started or when he had stopped "This is none of your business, okay! I just got thrown out of the only home I've ever known with a letter letting me know that if I ever come back I'll be killed! Excuse me for being a real downer for you here, but I'm having a pretty shitty day, so back off bitch!"

This was the loudest he had been since waking up on this ship and the girls eyes were shot wide open. Then her face was returned to a smirk, though this one was much softer than the one before "Is that all? Then you've got nothing to complain about. It's not like you're the only one who got booted out of their home with nothing and no one, ya know."

Narutos' expression quickly melted from its frosty glare to a softer look of curiosity. Terra turned an eye to him "Got your attention, did I? I'll tell you my story if you tell me yours."

The way she said it just so flatly kinda took Naruto aback. He'd never really talked about himself before, but for some reason he felt as if talking about it might make him feel better right now. He cocked his head to the side in thought for a moment before he nodded to her "Alright. My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm 16. I'm a--- I mean I used to be a ninja and now I don't know what I'm going to do."

Terra nodded her head in response "Like I said, my name is Terra and I just turned 17 two weeks ago. I was born in the place we're headed to but my family and I left when I was 10 to start a farm in the elemental lands. We had heard that the soil was real fertile there so we decided it was our best choice. It was all good until about a year ago. That's when things started to go wrong…."

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AN: This is my first attempt at a multi chapter fan-fic. This is just a case of getting an idea that refused to leave me alone until I finally went out there and did it. I have every intention of seeing this through to the end, which will probably be around 40 or 50 chapters, depending on the response the story gets.

I would like to mention that between my school and work schedules my updates may not always be regular, but I promise I will try my best to keep up with it.


	2. Terra's Tale

**Terras' Tale**

Terra was silent for a moment as if caught in something between nostalgia and despair. She took one deep breath and then carried on "I suppose I should start from the beginning. We first arrived in the Land of Tea and set up our farm on the southern peninsula. It was a beautiful place with lots of tall grasses and blue skies that stretched out as far as the eye could see. Yeah, we had it pretty good for a while…"

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

The horizon in the distance is a place where green meets blue and the grass rolls in the breeze like waves in the ocean. A ten year old Terra can only think to herself that this must be a dream. She and her family must still be on the boat, because places like this only exist in books and fairy tales. Places this perfect simply don't exist in the real world. She feels a soft hand touch her shoulder she know belongs to her young mother "It's it beautiful baby. This is going to be where our new life begins."

Terra turned to her mother. She couldn't have been older than 30 years old. She had lightly tanned skin and golden blonde hair. Her eyes were same shade of green as the grass of the field and had the gentlest expression "That's right princess! We're gonna build our own little kingdom out here."

The robust voice was that of her father. He was gruff in appearance of roughly 45 and was in desperate need of a shave. Despite the fact that he had yet to actually tend the fields, he already had a famers tan. He had dark brown hair and blue eyes just like his daughter. His hands were large and callous like a man who had spent his whole life working manual labor. Despite this appearance, he was really just a big kid on the inside. He still had all his hopes and dreams for the future and chased them with all the vigor a young man.

They had never been rich. Hell they had always struggled with money, but that didn't change the fact that they were happy all the same. They had each other and that's all they really needed. They all wished that this new life of theirs would be as perfect as they had hoped it would be, and for a time it was. But all good things come to an end sooner or later. We just usually hope they don't end quite this badly.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Six years have come and gone it an almost dream like Nirvana. In that time they had filled the fields with large vegetable gardens, growing everything from tomatoes to corn. They had even gotten some chickens the year before and were now harvesting their own eggs. Every month they would bring their harvests to the nearby town and sold whatever excess they famed in exchange for meats, spices, clothing and everything else they had need for. They had a modest farm house. It was two levels not counting the basement. Her father insisted on having one since he had this idea of harvesting wine someday. Terra and her mother thought he was crazy, but there was no talking him out of it. The first floor was made up of a family room which was where the front door opened up into which was connected to the kitchen and dining room. The staircase on the far wall of the family room leads to the bedrooms, three in total because her parents were always talking about future "additions". It was a lot of work, but they loved it all the same. Because like Terras' father said, it was their own little kingdom.

One day a man wrapped in rags appeared on the outer fence of the farm. He was wobbling like he was drunk and seemed disoriented at first. Though rare, they had the occasional drunk stumble out our way. Terras' father began to move toward him so he could turn him back toward the town. That was until he noticed that there was blood on the man's rags. Her father ran up to him calling for her to come and help him get this man back inside. They had to hurry because the distance between their outer fence and their house was at least 200 yards. The two of them braced him from either side and began to drag him toward their farm house which seemed in particularly far off today.

It wasn't until they cleared the first hundred yards, after what seem like hours, that they noticed that there was something wrong. Normally Terras' mother came out of the farm house every few minutes to check up on her and her father to see where they were and to see if they needed anything, yet for as long as they had been helping this guy along, she hadn't looked out to them even once. Terra's father called out for his wife to come out and help them, but there was no response. He called again and still nothing. Both he and his daughter were struck by a simultaneous sense of dread. Her father looked to the man they had been helping along only to notice that there was a smile on his face. The look of dread on his face was replaced by one of rage as he swung and knocked the man to the ground and began sprinting for his home.

This sudden change and both shocked and terrified Terra. Everything was happening too fast for her to understand what was happening. The man from before wasn't moving, but still looked like he was alive and her father was already in their house. Suddenly Terra began to run after him, still confused and desperately trying to understand what was happening to this perfect world of hers.

It was when she reached the porch that she finally noticed the smell. She couldn't place it, but something about the smell both scared and sickened her. The front door was slightly ajar it only took a light push to open it. The door swung open just in time for her to see her father have his head sliced of the rest of his kneeling body. There were two men, one if front of her father looking down and his fallen head and the other holding the sword that had done the deed. They both turned their heads to Terra in a simultaneous and deliberate motion. The two men wore masks and wore what appeared to be ninja apparel, though it was obvious to her that they were not. The one in front of her father's body was only slightly taller than the other, but his commanding presence told her that he was the one in charge.

A third man came out of the kitchen; his mask was pulled down so Terra could see his frighteningly scarred face. He had a smirk of satisfaction about him that made Terra shiver. When he saw her he decided to speak up "What are we gonna do with that one?"

There was silence for a moment. Terra was too scared to even think of running, but all she could think about was getting away. When she finally had enough sense about her to turn and run, she came around to come straight on into a fist. That was the last thing she remembered before fading to black for a while.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Terra rubbed the corners of her eyes, these memories still hurt. She wasn't sure why she was sharing these with a stranger. Maybe she just felt like it. Maybe she was just tired of keeping to herself, but whatever the reason, she just felt like talking to this Naruto guy "So anyway, after that I woke up in a cell with a bunch of other girls who had the same look about them as me. I suppose I got as lucky as I could hope to get when I was bought by this ship's captain instead of some pimp, right?"

Naruto wanted to tell her how sorry her felt for her, but he could tell that she didn't want to that. She had a strength about her that told him that she didn't need or want anyone's pity. So, not knowing what to say to her, he just nodded his head. Terra then let out a rather un-ladylike belch and said "Don't give me that look. Like I said, of all the things that could have happened to me, this was probably the best, even if all the ship hands are fucking pigs. The captain even agreed that when ship makes port in Talsen I'm free to go."

Naruto gave her a confused look "Oh right, Talsen is the port town were headed to. Once we get there me and you are getting the hell out of here."

Though that did answer one of his questions, that wasn't what Naruto was most confused about. What confused him the most was how she could look back on such a terrible time in her life and just keep powering on like it was nothing. Naruto had just been banished from his home and here he was, ready to give up all hope, and this girl was ready for a new start. Thinking of it like that suddenly made Naruto feel kinda pathetic. Naruto suddenly got a smack on the head "How many times have I told you to stop acting all depressed and shit, it gives me the creeps."

Naruto looked up and met Terra's eyes for a moment. He suddenly felt a smirk on his face and it slowly spread out into his famous shit eating grin "Sorry, I've always been a little thick. Or so I'm told"

A smirk graced her lips "Now that's more like it. Now remember what I told you about ninjas and this place were going. Don't use any of those jutsu things you ninja do because they got all kinds of tricks to tell when you're trying and that's how they'll catch you."

Naruto just nodded dumbly to this. How could they tell when he was going to use chakra? If that was true then this was going to real tricky. Ugh, this sucked. How was he going to get back home if he couldn't use jutsu or chakra? He looked to Terra "How am I supposed to get back to the continent of elements if I can't even use chakra?"

Terra cocked an eyebrow at that "Well that's a pretty straight forward question I guess. You could always get a job and try to earn enough money to buy your way onto a boat. Though that might be tough since the mask guys had to pay 3000 ryu just to get you a spot in the storage hold."

This caused Naruto to groan. How the hell was he gonna earn that kinda money? He didn't have an awful lot of skills outside of being a ninja. While he was juggling the different ideas for jobs he could find when they reached this place he heard a voice from above deck "LAND HOOOO!"

Terra's face lit up as she grabbed his hand "Come on, you gotta see this!"

She then pulled Naruto up off his butt and pulled his up the staircase that lead above deck. Naruto saw at least a dozen men on deck looking off toward the bow. Terra pulled Naruto all the way up the head of the ship and pointed excitedly, like a small child "See, See there it is!"

And sure enough, the town he saw was so different from anything he knew from back home. Where the Konoha had been vibrant in color, this place was of a much drabber gray. There was a wooden deck that was connected to heavy gray stones. There was no paint on anything and maybe that was why it all looked so depressing, but at the same time there were so many people walking the around moving about the scattered shops and vendors offering their wares from all over the world. Despite the lack of color this place still felt lively. Just beyond the port was a large gray wall made of huge granite slabs with heavy looking iron gates. It was just like Naruto had expected, it was like he had landed on another planet. The architecture, the clothing, even the language all seemed so foreign. Suddenly he felt something pulling at his hand "Aren't you excited? Look at all that stuff! I can't wait to by some new clothes and eat something other than bread!"

It was now suddenly that Naruto remembered that Terra had lived on this ship for a year and this would probably be the first time she had been allowed to disembark from it in all that time. Naruto smirked at her excitement and plastered a smile on his face "Yeah, this is gonna be a great adventure and an even greater story for all those back home when I finally get back."

He couldn't lose hope now. In fact now more than ever was a time for his strong will to shine through. This was just another bump in the road to Hokage and he hadn't let anything else stop him and he'd be damned if he let this do it. He then looked to Terra "Hey, think you could put me here for a few days?" he asked, trying to sound as unimposing as possible "Ya know, at least until I can get my own place."

Then Terra did something that made him concerned: She gave a confused look "What are you talking about? I don't have a place here."

This wasn't good "I thought you said you lived here!"

"Yeah, like, seven years ago. We sold our place here so we could start up our farm. I thought we were going to be staying at a hotel or something."

"WE. Since when did I become responsible for you?"

"Hey, I looked after your ungrateful ass the whole way over here. The least you could do is put me up for a few days."

Naruto let out a groan "I don't have any money."

The excitement she had felt earlier completely drained away from Terra at hearing this "SO WHAT THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO DO!?!?!?!"

AN: I would like to thank those that added this story to their fav and alert lists. This actually got a better response then I thought it would.

Foxyswordsman: Yes, there is a reason they didn't just kill him and I will say why, but it will be much later on, though Naruto will do some speculating on that in the next chapter.


	3. A Favor

**A Favor**

Well this was one shit situation. Here he was, stuck in a foreign land with no money, ID, friends, or ability to use jutsu. As he walked along the docks he became immediately aware of the roving guards moving along the pier where he landed. The guards were dressed in red plate mail armor with the emblem of a gold eagle emblazoned on the chest plate. They traveled in pairs and each pair had a dog and some strange, black crystal. Terra explained that they used these for detecting and tracking ninjas. The crystal to detect the use of chakra and the dogs to track any acquired targets. All in all, this only seemed to look worse and worse for our young Hokage-to-be.

Next to him was his latest companion and partner in crime, Terra. The girl was practically bubbling over. She was overcome with nostalgia her former home land. Though it was all helpful information, he was sure. It would help if she slowed down long enough from him to actually figure out what she was saying. It suddenly occurred to Naruto _'I wonder if I was ever this annoying?'_ "Hey, as helpful as your being, do you think you can help me find some work. I mean, I really need to get back home and I don't have 3000 ryu just lining my pockets here, so…."

Incredibly, Terra stopped rambling for a moment. Her eyes squinted and she made a low humming noise "Well, since you're a…. ya know," she said with a pointing gesture toward her own forehead "You're gonna need to keep a low profile. So I wouldn't recommend trying to join the port or city guards. Since the only ships leaving to the elemental continent is here I don't think we should go too far, even with all the guards. You could do some manual labor stuff, but that could take awhile since most of those guys only make a ryu a day, so unless you want to spend eight years here, I don't think that'll be such a good idea."

Naruto grimaced at the fact that she had just shot down all the ideas he had for work "So basically you're telling me that I can't do anything. I mean, unless there's something you're not telling me here."

That sinister smirk spread across Terra's face "Well, I might know someone around here in need of a favor."

**000000000000000000000000000000000**

With the pier left far behind them, Naruto now found himself in what looked like one of the local slums. The streets were lined with trash and had a terrible odor that seemed to just hang in the air over every where they went. The further they went into this place, the more Naruto began to suspect that this 'favor' that was going to be asked of him was going to be illegal. Terra came to a firm stop and turned to Naruto "This is the place!"

She was pointing to the right, to which Naruto turned his head and looked to the depressingly gray building. It was in a terrible state of disrepair. Naruto was concerned if it was even safe to go in to this place. But once Terra took his hand there was nothing he could do. As he came through the door they immediately went up a flight of old wooden stairs. Each step creaked like they were about to break, but miraculously they made it to the top of the stairs. At the top of the stairs the building opened up to the right, showing three simple wooden doors numbered 4 through 6 (1 to 3 were presumably at ground level). Terra took him to the door numbered 5. She turned the handle slowly and walked while calling out in a language that Naruto didn't recognize. She called out a second time once they were both fully in the unit and the door closed behind them. It was only then that a gruff looking older man appeared at the end of the hall. He was at least a head taller than Naruto with red hair and matching beard. While he did have a large build, one wouldn't call it muscular nor fat, just big. He was dressed in a worn flannel shirt and worn looking par of tan khaki pants. He grunted once and in a heavy accent said "So you must be from across the sea, correct?"

Naruto, only just able to understand the man, nodded dumbly "Yeah, right."

The man grunted again waved the two of them down the hall. Once the two reached the end of the hall, they found it opened up into, what Naruto guessed, was the living room. It was sparsely furnished, with only a table, three wooden chairs, a cushioned arm chair, and a couch on the far wall. The man plopped himself down into the arm chair and motioned them to the couch. Once they were seated the man pulled up the foot rest and reclined slightly then turned his eyes to Terra. He said something to her in that strange language again to which she responded in the like. He then fixed his eyes one Naruto "So you were former ninja of eastern land. And now you need money so you might return there. And that is why you come here to me, correct? You need work?"

Again, Naruto was only just able to understand the man and he nodded once again "Yes, I need to make as much money as soon as possible. I need to get back home!"

The man leaned forward in the chair "You have great will! Being a ninja once may make you a very useful to me. Allow me to explain. I am a man of connections. When I was young and strong, many would come to me and ask me for help. But I am how you say, too old for that shit. But people, they still need me, so they keep coming, even though I cannot help. But if I had the strength of a ninja from the eastern continent, then maybe I could help these people once again. And in return I would share with you half the profits. What would you say to that?"

At first Naruto wanted to just jump in and say 'Yes', but with all that had happened, he couldn't help but be skeptical of this whole affair. He needed to tread much more carefully here "Uh, excuse me, but what exactly would I have to do?"

The man leaned back once again "I will not deceive you. Some may be things you may not like, but I do try not to get involved in anything blatantly illegal. However, you may very well be pitted off against the local guard. They themselves are far from the righteous sort."

This worried Naruto "But if they can sense ninja, and what with the whole 'kill on sight' thing, how am I suppose to fight them?!"

The man nodded his head "You misunderstand their ability. They can only sense the, what you call, chakra with their crystals. The dogs are just for tracking. They do not have the same kind of powers you have."

"But if I can't use chakra then how is that an advantage?"

"The crystals can only sense large amounts of chakra. Your weaker techniques should go unnoticed. But do be sure to avoid your more powerful ones at all costs. If you are found out they will conduct a city wide man hunt for you."

That was a little better, but not much. Going on that he could probably get away with henge, kawarimi, wall and water walking but not much else. Naruto made a slight nod "But still, what good could I be to you. I mean sure I have some jutsu I could use, but as far as anything else goes, you could have anybody else, so why are you so interested in me?"

The man smirked "Because you ninja have other skills, do you not? Spying, espionage and infiltration are things that could be very useful in some of my more complicated jobs. Surely you are familiar with all these things."

Naruto nodded in the affirmative. He remembered that Ero-Sennin had stressed these things to him a lot while they traveled together. These were things Naruto had learned much about, though he had never had to actually needed to use these skills before.

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"_Are you listening, gaki?!"_

_Jiraiya shouted at the young Naruto "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya? Geez, why the hell do I need to learn all this boring crap anyway? It's not like I'll ever use it, right?"_

_Naruto then received a sharp smack to the back of his head "Shut up! First of all, you very well might need to know this stuff some day, number one. And number two, it's only proper that a ninja have these skills. The fact that you've made it without them for this long is nothing short of a miracle. But miracles don't last forever, which is why I'm gonna educate you in them now! Ya got it?!"_

_Naruto growled a bit "Fine! Just hurry it up so we can get back to the good stuff!"_

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Naruto snapped back from his thoughts and looked to the man in front of him "Yeah, I guess I do know a thing or two about it."

The man's smirk spread to a full smile "Excellent. Yes, with your ability and my connections we will soon have turned quite a profit. And you will soon be on your way home."

Naruto nodded "Okay, I'll help you out."

The man quickly rose from his chair and crossed the room to where Naruto and the oddly quiet Terra had been sitting on the couch with his hand extended "Wonderful. You may call me Trask."

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

After shaking the man's hand and being told to return tomorrow, Naruto and Terra returned to looking for a place to stay. Naruto grumbled to himself "The old man could've offered us a place to stay tonight."

Terra was tired of hearing him whine about this "Oh calm down, at least we have work now, right? So stop bitching and just keep your eyes open for anything."

Naruto had a snide remark all set up, but decided against it. This girl was as stubborn as he was and wouldn't let herself not have the last word. Again he could only wonder if he was ever this annoying.

After about ten minutes of painful silence, Terra finally spoke up "There's something I don't get. If your home didn't want you around, then why didn't they just kill you? I mean, isn't that what ninja usually do?"

Naruto didn't like the way she had said that. She made it sound like ninja were just a bunch of murderers, but he decided to say anything "Well, the way it was explained to me officially was that it was a 'kinder' punishment for those who were particularly 'valorous'. Truthfully though, the only reason time it's done is when they think they may have a use for the ninja in question. Aside from that, it's easier to explain a disappearance then a death. When an investigation takes place they'll immediately look for signs of foul play, so instead of killing and risking things like the precarious drop of blood or other such forensics, they just make him go away. It's also easier to exile a ninja than order his execution. An execution requires an executive order passed down from the Hokage and the village council. Banishment only takes a simple covert order from someone in power. Unfortunately, that means that I could have been banished by anyone with any political sway."

Naruto let out a heavy sigh at the thought of the uphill battle that was set out before him. Finding the one responsible for his banishment was going to be tricky, but there was no way he was going to down without a fight. He was gonna find whoever did this to him and kick their ass.

Suddenly Terra started to shout "How about that place!?"

Naruto turned his attention toward the decrepit building she had pointed out. Naruto was even more skeptical of this place then the one before. But beggars can't be choosers. It had four walls and a roof, so it would have to do. With a nod from him, Terra grabbed his arm and pulled him into the decrepit ruins that were to be their home for the time being.

However once they got inside they found that it was already occupied. Six rather unsavory thugs stood at the far end of the building, each with their own harsh glare set on Naruto and Terra. The one standing furthest to the left stepped forward "What the hell are you two doin' here, huh?"

One of the ones in the middle came next "Yeah, this is our spot and we're kinda busy! So beat it!"

Naruto was about to do just that until he saw what they were busy with. Lying at the feet of the six was a bloodied and battered looking young man. The hero in Naruto came blazing to the surface. Now time to come forward with an awesome and heroic line "HEY YOU" oh yeah, that was real original "Leave that guy alone!"

The six turned to him at once, this time their glares seemed to burn "WHAT D'YA SAY PUNK!!!"

Without further ado the six thugs charged Naruto. Terra let out a yelp, fearing that Naruto had just bitten off more than he could chew. Once the first of the six was close enough he lunged for Naruto intent on caving in his skull. With a slight movement to the right, the thugs fist zips past his head. Naruto then grabbed the man's wrist and with a counter clockwise twist and swift yank he sent the man tumbling to the ground with an arm broken in three places.

The second man came at him from behind. Naruto leaned forward and shot his right leg straight up, crushing blow to his jaw where an audible crack his heard.

Finally a third came at him straight on, trying to tackle him as it looked. When the man dove forward, Naruto brought his right knee straight up and caught this one in the face. He then grabbed him by the back side of his shirt collar. He then grabbed his shoulder with his other hand and threw this one at the other three that were still dumb struck by this display.

After a second of fear induced stupor, the three that were still standing gathered up their friends and ran away shouting empty threats over their shoulders the whole way.

Terra was awestruck with Naruto's performance. In this moment, she could only think of one thing to say at this moment "THAT WAS AWESOME!!!"

AN: First of all, thanks to all those who have read this far. I know there hasn't been much action so far, but I promise that we will see more and more action from the next chapter on.


	4. Trust Me

**Trust Me**

After the excitement of the previous night, things managed to calm down. Despite the fact that they had rescued his ungrateful life, the man that was being pummeled by the thugs, rather than thanking Naruto and Terra for saving him, simply ran away without so much as a fleeting glance. This lead to a twenty minute rant about ingrates from both Naruto and Terra. After which the two decided to just be happy with having a roof over their heads for the night. The building creaked and wobbled all through the night, but hey, it didn't collapse.

When Naruto finally woke up Terra was already eagerly eating some kind of sandwich that smelled truly awful. The bread was gray looking, the stuff in side was a mix of purple and brown, and was running like pudding. Naruto was seriously considering the idea that Terra was eating a shit sandwich.

Then suddenly it got ugly. Terra turned her own head to see that Naruto was awake. She then leaned off to the side and produced another of these horrid abominations on food and began to run at Naruto "You've gotta try this!!!"

Naruto tried to get up, but by the time he was up on his feet, Terra was shoving this thing in both his face and trying to push it into his mouth. Naruto flailed his arms at her "Get that thing away from me you nut!!! It smells like death and shit!!!"

"Just try it!"

"NO!"

"One bite!!"

"I'M WARNING Y----!"

Naruto's threat was cut short as Terra shoved the sandwich into his mouth. And for as awful as it both looked and smelled it tasted… That much worse. He swore that he could actually taste the smell, if such a thing is possible. He could feel bits in his mouth and was now certain that this was in fact a shit sandwich. Naruto spat up all off that mess that had been shoved into his mouth and set an angry glare on Terra "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!!!"

Terra scoffed at him "Don't be a sissy. It's not like it'll kill you!"

Terra said as she popped the last piece of her own sandwich into her mouth. Naruto stared at her with his mouth agape "WHY THE HELL WON'T YOU LEAVE!!!"

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

After much more yelling, the two left the decrepit building together. Naruto made a beeline for the nearest vendor offering anything that could wash the taste out of his mouth. So the morning's breakfast end up being water and stale bread crusts from a trash can. This was starting to get pathetic. He needed to get a job that would offer at least enough money for food.

Naruto was on his way back to meet up with the man who had referred to himself as Trask. He had said that he would have work for him today and he was intent on holding the man to his word. Naruto couldn't sleep another night in that condemned building or eat one more shit sandwich. It was at this thought that Naruto became aware of the sound of chewing coming from his right. He looked to see Terra eating something brown "What are you eating now?"

Terra stopped and looked at it for a moment "I don't really know."

"You don't know… and you're eating it."

"You know if you weren't such a sissy you'd be surprised by just what kind of food possibilities there are out there."

Naruto let out an irritated groan. What the hell was wrong with this girl? She was eating garbage and she had done nothing but yammer on and on about one damn thing or another. All Naruto could do was wish she would just get tired and leave soon _'I mean sure, it was nice to have company at first, but now she was just annoying. No, just be nice, she is the one who helped you get work, so just bare with her.'_

It was at this moment that Naruto realized he had finally reached the same decrepit building from the day before. Naruto quickly ran up the stairs and through the door from the day before. And just as the day before he saw Trask at the end of the hall "Ah, Naruto, welcome back. I've found a client for you. Please come in and meet her."

Naruto quickly made his way down the hall. He looked out into the living room from before and he saw a woman sitting on the couch. She was a young woman, maybe her mid- twenties, with black hair and brown eyes. She was dressed in a light blue shirt and long khaki pants. She had a nervous look on her face and was playing with hem on her shirt. Trask took Naruto by the shoulder "This is my young associate. He'll be helping you with your troubles."

She stood, a look of relief splashing across her face, and offered her hand "Hello. My name is Fiona. Thank you so much for all your help."

She looked liked she was ready to cry and he hadn't even done anything yet, this girl really needed help. It was on this scene that Terra came rushing into the room "Hey, what the hell! Are you trying to ditch me or something, asshole!"

It took a moment before Terra realized she had just burst in on something kind of important. She looked to the three people in the room before locking onto Fiona "Oh, You must be the client. Hi, my name is Terra, I'm Naruto's Partner. Don't worry; we'll get the job done."

There was a dull silence in the room for a moment. Then finally Trask decided to break it "Anyway, Miss Fiona, if you would please explain to them what it is that you need."

She then nodded and looked to Naruto and the now quiet Terra "I own a small shop a few blocks from here. Business has never been great, but it was always good enough to keep food on the table and the shop doors open. Then about a year ago they started a new development and business really started picking up. It was like a dream come true."

She let out a sad sigh "That's when Milo and his gang showed up. They started hitting up all the local stores, saying that they had to pay protection money or bad things would start to happen. I'm a single mom and when I refused to pay my little boy ended up with three inch deep cuts carved into each wall of his room. They got into MY HOUSE and got THAT CLOSE to my little boy. I can't afford to pay what they're asking, but if I don't they might hurt him next." Fiona fell to her knees "Please, just make them go away. Please help me."

The desperation on her face told Naruto just how honest she was being. This woman needed his help. And he was going to give it to her "You don't have to worry about a thing. You just let me do everything and we'll have these thugs out of town before you know it."

With a few more 'thank yous' and a few more handshakes, Fiona left. Trask took his spot in his recliner "So, do you have a plan?"

Naruto stopped for a moment. He had never had to think this hard BEFORE having to act. This was a brave new world he was diving into. Now it was time to try and really remember everything Ero-Sennin had taught him. Suddenly someone pulled Naruto by his left shoulder "Don't worry T, me and whiskers here will have this thing wrapped up in no time flat!"

**00000000000000000000000000000000000000**

"_So are we gonna go out there and beat the crap out of them?"_

_Jiraiya turned to the young Naruto "Listen gaki, dealing with big gangs like this isn't always that easy. Sure a group of bandits in the forest can be pummeled into submission, but if you try to do that to a street gang inside a city you're gonna end up hurting a lot of innocent people."_

_Naruto scowled at this "Then what do we do?"_

_Jiraiya sighed, wondering just how this kid had never picked this stuff up. He was an orphan, right? He had to know something about growing up on the street, right? "Simple, we provide competition."_

_Now Naruto was totally "Wait a minute, what the hell does that mean?"_

"_Me and you are gonna act like a rival gang moving in on their turf. Once we've positioned in a vantage point to take over, their boss will step forward and then we'll be ready to move."_

_All Naruto could think was 'What the hell is this old pervert thinking' "What do mean boss. I thought this was just some street gang."_

"_Don't you worry about that. It'll become clear later on. Now let's move, we've got a lot of work to do."_

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Everything was in place. Now all Naruto needed was for this Milo guy and his punks to come strolling along. And sure enough here they came. He could spot street thugs from a couple of blocks off. They all seemed to look the same, no matter what continent he was on. Greased hair, gaudy clothes and the same smug look, guess some things never change, right?

They were completely oblivious to Naruto's simple trap and as soon as they were on target Naruto sprung it on them. He sliced the thin length of rope holding his cage up and watched it drop over the four thugs on the ground. From the rooftop, Terra then dropped several heavy barrels on top of the cage, as so they couldn't escape it. Two of the barrels split open, spilling a pungent smelling liquid over both the cage and thugs inside. Naruto then appeared from his hiding place in the side alley holding a freshly lit torch in his hand "Good evening gentlemen" a cocky smirk on his face the whole time "I believe you have something that belongs to me." Naruto then indicating the bags each of the thugs were carrying "You see this is my neighborhood now and that money belongs to me."

Naruto walked up to the cage and held the torch only a few inches away "That stuff that's all over you and this cage is called turpentine, and it's highly flammable." The thugs faces became panicked "Don't worry though; you won't burn to death thanks to the cage. Rather, the fire will suck all the air out of the cage and you'll suffocate. Unless one of you gets to close, then you'll all burn to death." The men then started screaming to be let out "Now, about that money…"

Without further prodding, the men through all the money that they had collected that day out to Naruto. With his famous shit eating grin, Naruto gathered up the money and walked up to the cage once more "This is my neighborhood. If you value your lives, you'll get the hell out."

With that, Naruto left the soaked and panicked men to scream desperately for help while he walked away with the money.

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

About two blocks over on a fourth floor rooftop, Naruto met up with Terra. She had done her part well, though she wasn't sure why they had just done that "You had those thugs pinned. You could've just killed them and we'd be done with this!"

Naruto shook his head. He actually chuckled a little _'I said the same thing to Ero-Sennin'_ "Because if I had killed them, their employers would come looking to kill me. This way all I've done is get their attention. With some luck we might be able to pull them out with only a little more prodding."

Terra shot Naruto a skeptical look "How do you know they work for someone?"

Naruto chuckled again "Just trust me."

**00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Another day, another trap, Naruto was hard pressed to believe that the same group of thugs fell for the same trap, not once, but twice more. This was easier then he thought it would be. This time it was a new batch of thugs but the same look. Haven't these guys ever heard of originality? Naruto noticed they kept glancing up. Guess his last escapade had gotten some attention. That's good, because that means he's gotten under someone's skin.

Terra had called their tactics 'shock and awe' the other day. What she didn't realize was the term 'shock and awe' is a largely over and incorrectly used term. 'Shock and awe' is a term for a military tactic known as 'Rapid Dominance'. By striking hard and fast it causes disorientation, making the enemy sloppy and giving you that much more of an edge. It also causes drop in morale, which was already starting to show in some of these new thugs. Two of them already looked ready to run.

When your enemy looks up, you move down. Since they were looking for another cage to drop, they missed the contact plate on the ground. Contact plates work by taking two pieces of wood and binding them together with soft buffer in between like rubber to keep them from actually touching. Then you fasten a piece of metal in the middle of both pieces of wood. You pass a current through both plates and when someone steps on it, the circuit becomes complete and the trap is sprung.

In this case, the trap is a metal tube packed with a small explosive and a net made of ninja wire. When they stepped on the plate, the blast sounded and trapped two of the four thugs. The other two jumped and were scrambling to find out where that had come from and what had just happened. It was only a few seconds, but it was all Naruto needed. He closed the gap of the one closest to him before he even turned around, setting his hand and the back of his head and smashing his face down on Naruto's knee.

The second one made for the knife on his belt. Naruto took the first man and threw him at the second, sending them both to the ground. The second man scrambled to get his unconscious partner off him, but before he could even get off his back, Naruto crushed his nose with his fist. With those two unconscious and the other two struggling helplessly in the trap, Naruto went about collecting their money once again "I thought I was pretty damn clear before. This is my neighborhood."

Then suddenly there was a slow clapping from behind him "Very good. I can see why Milo and his boys are so upset."

Naruto turned and saw a short, portly man with a toupee that couldn't look faker of it had a chin strap standing only a few feet behind him. He was dressed in what was obviously a cheap two piece suit. It was dark blue and seemed like it was falling apart at the seams, if all the loose threads were anything to go by. His shoes looked nice, but it hardly made up for the rest of it. Still, this guy was obviously someone apart from these thugs. The man finally spoke again "You know, I have some friends who are very interested in meeting you. Could I interest you in coming with me peacefully?"

Naruto still couldn't believe how easy this had been _'Damn, Ero-Sennin knew what he was talking about'_ "I guess I've got some spare time"

The man chuckled "It seems you're a man or reason. My friends will be very happy to hear that. Please call me Mr. Taylor. And what might your name be?"

This was where this job really started "The name's Tanaka."

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Mr. Taylor led Naruto down about four blocks to a recently renovated building. He could tell because he could still smell the fresh paint on the exterior. It was about five stories tall and was a pristine white. As Naruto entered the building he became aware of the fact that this was some kind of office building, seeing as everyone inside was dressed in a suit and there sure didn't seem to be anything out in this lobby for sale. He just kept following this Mr. Taylor. They made their way to the staircase and quickly climbed up to the fifth floor. At the top of the staircase there was a large steel door. Mr. Taylor then produced a key from the coat pocket of his cheap suit and carefully slid it into place in the middle of the giant metal door. There was a grating buzz for a moment and the door slowly opened inward.

Despite the security, the room in question was surprisingly plain. There was red shag carpet and a desk at the far end of the room with two chairs set just in from of it. Behind the desk was a man of an obviously higher status than this 'Mr. Taylor'. He was dressed in a black pin stripe suit with a matching tie. His hair was black with hints of grey intermingled and very neatly kept. He had a welcoming smile on his face and an excited appearance, but it was excited in the way that a child is when they get a new toy. That's what Naruto was for this guy "Please come in and sit down."

**AN: I would first like to say that YES, Naruto and Terra are very similar. That's why she drives Naruto nuts. They have too much in common.**

**This marks the start of my first "Job arcs", entitled 'Trust me'. This one will be relatively short, probably only one more chapter. Maybe two. **

**I know this one was a little slow in coming, but I've been busy lately. You know sometimes life just happens. But I promise that I will see this through to the end. So no need to fear, I will not be abandoning the story. If I don't update for a while, it just means I've been busy. I am in the army so I do get tangled up from time to time.**


End file.
